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Belleville Senators

2019-20 Season Preview: Q&A with Troy Mann

October 4, 2019 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Belleville Senators News Release


The 2019-20 American Hockey League season is officially here!

The Senators kick off their campaign Saturday afternoon in the Battle of Ontario as the Sens head to Toronto for game one of 76.

With the season set to begin, Sens head coach Troy Mann sat down for a look ahead to his second season behind the Belleville bench.

MT: There's some high expectations around this team this year. How do you temper that and keep them in check?

TM: I think you've got to just live in the moment. You need to go week-to-week. It's a long season and there will be lots of ups and downs. When you look at our team it's a more talented team than a year ago but certainly a younger team. With younger players, it means more mistakes so as a coaching staff we're going to correct those as quickly as possible and try and live in the moment game-to-game and week-to-week and keep things in perspective.

MT: You mention living game-to-game and week-to-week, but looking further ahead, what is the end goal in 2019-20?

TM: I think first and foremost you have to get in the playoffs. Obviously winning a championship is the ultimate goal and I think that whatever league you're coaching or playing in, you want to win. I think we got a taste of that last year in the second half as we made a playoff push and it was a lot fun but there was certainly disappointment too. You have to grow from those disappointments as that's the only way to become a better player or coach and hopefully we're better for it this year, particularly the returning guys.

MT: The average age of this team is 23.1 so it's a very young team. How do you manage a team that sees the oldest player on the team be 28?

TM: It's a new experience for me, quite frankly. Last year was probably the youngest team I had ever coached after coming from an organization that believed in a heavy veteran presence and mixing in a blend of youth so it was just a bit of a different philosophical approach. We've got some guys that have been around though. Nick Paul's entering his fifth year of pro and we have some wily vets in Jordan Szwarz and Hubert Labrie who are only 28. I think when you have a young group it's a learning curve and experience. One thing I really like right now is where our goaltending situation is. We're healthy on the backend and I think that Marcus Hogberg is coming off of a great performance in Laval in preseason and a great second half last year and Gus has improved. Those guys are going to have to help us out here early because there will be mistakes. That's just the nature of coaching a youthful team.

MT: Talking of goaltending, Marcis Hogberg and Filip Gustavsson are the two goalies to start the season. How comfortable are you with both of them, especially as they were the main two guys here last season too?

TM: I feel great with where our goaltending is. Daccord is an excellent young goalie and he's going to play some games in Brampton and Gus has been in the net twice already, once in Ottawa and once now with us, and he's played very well and has looked sharp in practice. It's now his job to push Hogberg and to take starts away from Hoggy. We're not going to split early on until Gus proves that he can compete and can provide the same type of goaltending as Hogberg. But if Hogberg isn't where he needs to be and Gus is playing well, then we'll make those decisions as we move forward but as a coaching staff, we feel great going into game one with where our goaltending is.

MT: Looking at the defence, outside of Jordan Murray, there isn't too much offence potentially coming from the blue line. Some of that is due to injury but how comfortable are you feeling about your D corps?

TM: I'd certainly prefer more puck movers. When the offseason and summer started, we probably had more puck movers than we do right now but things change. Wolanin got injured, then Brannstrom earned a spot. I think it was safe to say that Brannstrom was probably going to start in Belleville but injuries give opportunity and he made the most of it so suddenly we lost a puck mover. I would consider Goloubef a puck mover, and captain material, but he's still in Ottawa so the dynamics of our defence have just changed not by design but by circumstances.

MT: Up front there's 15 players on the roster. A number of them are rookies, a number of them are also veterans. How do you find the balance for those players to complement one another and get the scoring you need?

TM: I think we have to just play around with the lines early. I like to work in pairs so obviously Brown and Paul are very familiar with one another so to me it's a no-brainer to pair them up and then find the right right-winger. It may be Rodewald, it may be Carcone or Veronneau. It's going to be a work in progress especially with a youthful forward group but I will say I think we have some deeper talent this year up front and I think we are going to be faster. Last year we tried to play a quick game and we preached playing fast and you can still play fast and not have fast skaters but we have some quickness now. Davidsson can skate. Formenton can skate. Norris can skate. Those are three new additions to go alongside a guy like Nick Paul or Rodewald, who's also a strong skater. I think that pushing the pace and playing fast with our speed should be an advantage for us this year.

Get in on the action throughout 2019-20 with Belleville Senators season tickets or flex packages. Single-game tickets are now on-sale through Dec. 31. And take advantage of our current special ticket offers.

The Senators' Opening Night presented by CAA Insurance takes place Oct. 11 and features an action-packed schedule.

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